I have a different answer than the one given by the classic children's book "How To Eat Fried Worms."

1. Go to Mexico City.

2. Have a three-hour lunch (typical in Mexico City on Fridays: a lunch that goes from 2:00pm to 5:00 pm...Mon-Thurs it's only 2:00pm-4:00 pm) with potential partners at a restaurant called Canario.

3. Drink two tequilas with sangrita (that's different than sangria, btw).

4. Give your new potential partner encouragement when he suggests ordering the fried worms for an appetizer.

5. Take a freshly made tortilla, spread on some guacamole, grab a handful of worms, put the worms in the tortilla, add hot sauce and lime, and eat.

6. Eat a plain fried worm "just to make sure you get the flavor."

The taste and texture was far better than I expected, (crispy/crunchy and chewy all at the same time) and of course a fine source of protein, but I just couldn't get over the big plate of worms that was sitting at the center of our table. It was really revolting. I know that people eat worms regularly in many countries, but I don't. These worms in Spanish were "Gusanos de Maguey." Note the picture of the worms in the last link are not what we had the restaurant. For an almost exactly accurate picture of the worms we ate (btw, our plate was much more full, and piled high with worms...the picture was actually taken at a restuarant a few blocks from where we ate) see this Wikipedia entry on Mezcal and scroll down to the third picture.

The Gusanos de Maguey live their whole life above ground on agave/maguey plants, and if they fall, they die. Perhaps they die happy, considering tequila is made from the plant they live on.

Another interesting item on the menu was the "Bull's Testicles." It had a very exotic sounding name in Spanish, but I think someone used an automatic translation program to produce the English on the menu. However, we did not order the "Rocky Mountian Oysters" as they are called in some parts of the US. The worms and testicles were listed with all of the other dishes of the restaurant--grilled sea bass, carne asada, shrimp scampi, etc., etc. For my main course, I had an outrageously delicious (sabroso!) plate of seafood tacos. I usually only have two meals per day when I am in Mexico City, so I really make them count (I was there Wed-Fri, and got back late last night).

As much as I enjoyed my culinary experience in Mexico City, I am happy of course to be back in the City of the Angels. As always, I missed my wife and my pets, but my dog only cared slightly when I returned, because I wasn't bearing any food for her. As I write this, I am looking over the Pacifc Ocean from our kitchen nook on a nearly picture-perfect day, thinking I could hardly be any luckier.

Salud!